How could you object to this?

Now that spring is approaching, I am more and more eager to get out on my bike when the opportunity arises. I am enjoying watching the birds in the garden, making their first nest-building preparations, and the drawn-out crepuscular light - Venus and Jupiter in the ascendant - as longer evenings approach. It might be forecast to snow on Tuesday, but there is the promise of warmer days in the air.

I don't think I'm alone in savouring the idea of getting outside and being active. This was the scene in a London LTN over the last week:

It seems to me, that whilst some people hate the idea of living without their cars, it's only until they actually try it. The facts about London's moves to reduce car transport are stark:

London had a problem. In 2016, more than 2 million of the city’s residents—roughly a quarter of its population—lived in areas with illegal levels of air pollution; areas that also contained nearly 500 of the city’s schools. That same air pollution was prematurely killing as many as 36,000 people a year. Much of it was coming from transport: a quarter of the city’s carbon emissions were from moving people and goods, with three-quarters of that emitted by road traffic.

But in the years since, carbon emissions have fallen. There’s also been a 94 percent reduction in the number of people living in areas with illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that causes lung damage. The reason? London has spent years and millions of pounds reducing the number of motorists in the city.

It isn't as if pollution alone is the problem either - remember, we are here in terms of global warming:

And we also have a public health crisis in the West, largely brought on by our inactivity. Just this week, it was reported that simple moves like walking 11 minutes a day could be enough to significantly reduce the risk of a premature death.

So, no, I don't really understand all the fuss about 15-minute cities. To me, freedom isn't driving - and selfishly parking - my "wankpanzer" whenever and wherever I want to.

I just wish that there was a magic way to get that message across to those who can't or don't want to see what is right in front of them: